Happy New Year, revelers! How’s everyone’s headache?
2022 in review (just my writing)
This was a great year for traveling, publishing & creating new words-on-the page. Maybe not spectacular for anything else (but what else matters, I ask you?)
In addition to the Writers of the Diaspora Forum that I attended in Lithuania, I was mentioned in several Lithuanian-language newspapers in various countries around the world. Lithuania and here, of course, but also Italy, Mexico and Germany. I am swimming in amused delight.
All the participants were anthologized in Lithuanian in a gorgeous collection called Egzodika II — I have a poem called “Grižtame” in the journal. (The title simultaneously means “let’s return” and “we are coming back.”)
My book got a little boost when Columbia Magazine mentioned it in a small article called “The Lion’s Guide to Parenting.” You can still get it, if no one got it for you. I am a firm believer that you should get yourself a present at least once a year. After all, you were magnificent this year! (or at least, you survived it - and in 2022, that feels magnificent!) Grab your book here.
One of my favorite-ever short stories, "The Heaven - The Earth," was published in After Dinner Conversation, Philosophy/Ethics Short Story Magazine, September 2022.
A new translation of "Spruce, Queen of Serpents," came out in New Myths Magazine, Fall 2022. It’s free to read - a long and completely new telling of an authentic Lithuanian folk tale. (You’ve never read anything like this.)
Excerpt from THE BOY WHO LOVED TREES, "34=trisdešimt keturi" in Gargoyle Magazine Online 2, July 2022.
In strictly American realism, I have a dark story called “Baptism” in the anthology A Fire to Light our Tongues: Texas Writers on Spirituality. (ed. Elizabeth Joan Dell and Donna Walker-Nixon, TCU Press, 2022)
And at the opposite end of that spectrum, I won an Honorable Mention for a 100 word story anthologized in Drabble Harvest #7: Space Junk (ed. Terrie Leigh Relf. My drabble is called “Junk Mail.”
I'm not actually sure what "In Case You Were Wondering" is. Could be flash. Could be narrative poetry. Could be a fever dream. The inaugural issue of Birdhouse Magazine is available here online (or in print: Birdhouse Magazine Issue #1, December 2022.)
Of course I wrote a lot of essays and things on my Medium this year, many of which got put on other platforms (which was very very cool) but my favorite thing on my Medium is this one: my new English translation of the Constitution of the Republic of Uzupis, a microrepublic.
But there is also this brand-new article in which I interview a chat-bot who is a better writer than most of us.
Other 2022 news:
There’s a brand-new interview with me by Kate Lewis that launched her substack newsletter called “The Village”:
I was also interviewed by the fabulous Jess deCourcy Hinds in her LitHub article about where the writers on Twitter are looking to go next. I went to Mastodon, but also stayed at Twitter. I am a multiply split socializer.
And my crazy New Years House tradition is described in Mutha Magazine! Here is the whole article.
FORTHCOMING IN 2023:
My story collection! I’ve put together a collection of short stories that will be out in Spring 2023 from Borda Books. Am excited to see what it feels like to have a story collection out in the world.
But also… “Tumbled Tales: An Anthology of Unconventional Stories” is forthcoming in June 2023 from Wandering Wave Press. My story “All Clear” will appear in it (with thanks to the members of WhoWantsCake, my excellent writing group for inspiring this kaiju-adjacent tale of aftermath and healing.)
RANDOM FINAL THOUGHT:
If you are feeling small today, reach out and touch the sky. Literally. The sky comes all the way down. You are already touching it, without even trying.
Keep walking the clouds as we enter 2023. Let’s see what the new year brings.
Happy New Year, everyone!
I love that thought of reaching out to touch the sky ❤️
wonderful interview -